Hearts of Oak: Conquest of the Seas is a non-commercial PC game being developed by PiratesAhoy!, and is to become the historical seafaring game to end them all! Fun, realistic gameplay on land and at sea, set during the Age of Sail, will provide extensive free play, exciting scripted storylines and intense multiplayer scenarios.

This is the First Concept Game Write-Up that we have recently completed. We are now working on a lot of brainstorming and discussion on all of the below. As such, we would very much appreciate the input of any and all people who can provide us with some! All the links below refer to threads on our PiratesAhoy! Community forums where we would welcome any comments that you might have!

Proposed Game Stages

Stage I: Pre-alpha Tech Demo - Two same-type ships in a multiplayer sea battle
Stage II: Full proof-of-concept Alpha Version - Including all intended game features, but only in limited quantity (eg. only 1 of everything)
Stage III: First Full Release - Including enough content to allow for a full game experience
Stage IV: Eventual Goal - All game content extended to the absolute maximum possible

It may be possible that different parts of the game will be in differing stages from the above. However, this should be avoided as much as possible. The game as a whole cannot progress to the next level until ALL sub-parts have moved up to the required next Stage.

Hearts of Oak is intended to allow whichever game experience any player might want in a mostly realistic, historical setting. The open game world is intended to be filled with enough content to allow for an infinite amount of stories and events to occur similar to those one might have encountered in real history, as well as the type of stores that you can read about in books and see in movies, both historical and fictional.

Our modpack Pirates of the Caribbean: New Horizons serves as a good showcase of what we intend to achieve, only better please. However, with better graphics and much less concern with game engine limitations, we have high hopes to eventually make this project fully live up to its potential.

a. Quick Overview

Theme: Age of Sail
Genre: Realistic Role-playing Game
Type: Full Single Player + Player vs. Player and Co-op Multiplayer scenarios

Stage I: Fully realistic, though with various parts of the game experience still Arcade as that is easier to code
Stage II: Wherever possible, realism will prevail over arcade provided that it results in enjoyable gameplay
Stage III: There will be toggles on Realistic aspects of the game that some people might not enjoy
Stage IV: We will try to remove as much of the above-mentioned toggles from the menus and instead try to have the choice be an integral part of the game experience, by, for example, allowing one of your officers to do those realistic tasks you do not enjoy doing. However, you would then also be able to do those things anyway if during the game at some point you do feel like doing it.

Stage I: No fantasy elements to be included
Stage II: No fantasy elements to be included
Stage III: Random fantasy elements can be added to liven up the game world, as long as they do not appear without the player deliberately trying to find them
Stage IV: Storylines can be made that include fantasy elements as much as the storyline writer wants

Stage I: Not enough content to even make a distinction between the two
Stage II: Fully historical, but with perhaps some buried treasure available on the island
Stage III: Enough potential for fictional style gameplay to allow players to relive their favourite movies/books
Stage IV: Storylines can be made that include fictional elements as much as the storyline writer wants

a. World Map
Stage I: No land whatsoever, except perhaps an inaccessible island in the background to navigate around
Stage II: One Caribbean island, filled with enough land content to allow exploration as eventually intended
Stage III: The remainder of the Caribbean islands
Stage IV: Other areas of the world to be added depending on interest, including but not limited to the Spanish Main, US Colonies, Europe and the Mediterranean, Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope, Madagascar and the East Indies

b. Time Setting
Stage I: No specific time frame, considering there will only be one ship and nothing else
Stage II: A mix of enough content to fill the gameplay requirement without regard for historical accuracy
Stage III: All content only appearing during their appropriate years as much as reasonably possible
Stage IV: Additional "special" historical stuff to be added, such as various actual historical events, the introduction of steamships, etc.

a. Level of Detail
Stage I: One ship to be made with sufficient external detail to look good on screenshots
Stage II: One ship of each "class" to be made with at least one deck and captain's cabin with internal detail
Stage III: Multiple ships in each class to be available that are as different as possible
Stage IV: A plethora of ships to be available, all built to the same minimum standard

b. Customizing
Stage I: No ship customization, except perhaps a different colour scheme for the two ships
Stage II: All ships to have at least several pre-skinned colour schemes available
Stage III: The possibility to customize your ships' model, including figurehead and rigging
Stage IV: Fully possible to customize your ship whichever way you want, not bound by realism

a. Player Character
Stage I: No player character
Stage II: One generic player character to be available
Stage III: Several pre-modeled character models to be available, including female characters
Stage IV: An infinite amount of character models to be available that can be customized as desired

b. Other Characters
Stage I: No other characters
Stage II: Several generic other characters to be available
Stage III: A large collection of character models to be available, ideally randomized so there will be an infinity of different ones
Stage IV: Other characters to have their own purposes and personalities

Stage I: No land locations
Stage II: One island. Can temporarily and partly be filled with models sourced from other games
Stage III: All islands to be filled, ideally with as much unique content as possible
Stage IV: All locations to be newly modeled content with nothing taken from elsewhere

a. Navigation (between islands)
Stage I: No navigation required
Stage II: Probably no navigation required either
Stage III: Sailing from island-to-island in 3D sailing mode is a must. However, to prevent this from getting boring, the actual navigation can be done by chart in your captain's cabin with time compression being available with a crewmember notifying you if anything noteworthy happens. Possible to delegate the navigation task to one of your officers
Stage IV: Inaccuracies to be added to the position fixing depending on the situation

b. Manoeuvring (with your ship)
Stage I: Player has full control of the ship with arrow keys
Stage II: Player can walk in person around the ship and interact with the crew
Stage III: Possibility to delegate various manoeuvring tasks to an officer, ranging from "get us alongside that enemy ship" to "bring the ship into that port" and "sail to that island". Depending on luck and how good that officer is, random stuff may occur along the way and it may or may not be successful. You always have the choice to take over yourself.
Stage IV: Possibility to set sails separately, with the option to have this done by an officer

c. Sea Battles
Stage I: Only ship vs. ship with cannons until sunk; no boarding or capture actions available
Stage II: Possibility for boarding actions, with the player involved in the fight
Stage III: Possibility for the player to take ANY part in the sea battle, including that of sniper in the rigging or duelling the enemy captain all over the entire ship, including the holds and the rigging
Stage IV: Special actions to be added to outwit your opponents at sea

d. Sea vs. Land Battles
Stage I: No land battles available
Stage II: Possibility to assault a fortress from sea by cannons until destroyed, but no land action in the fort
Stage III: Possibility for fort assault actions, with the player involved in the fight
Stage IV: Possibility for "cutting out" expeditions and combined shore/sea attacks or sabotage actions linked to timed attacks

d. Crew Affairs
Stage I: No crew involved, except perhaps as a "number bar" like in PotC and CoAS
Stage II: Crew walking around the ship's deck and can be interacted with
Stage III: Crew each having specific tasks that need to be performed
Stage IV: Each crewmember having a purpose, personality and skill level of some kind, making them all unique

a. Land Exploration
Stage I: No land exploration
Stage II: One island to be filled with enough content to walk around and see different things
Stage III: Each island to be unique in at least one way, so there will be lots of things to be used in stories and quests
Stage IV: Further unique stuff to be added for the rest of the world that will be added

b. Travel
Stage I: No land travel
Stage II: Walking around on foot around the one island
Stage III: Horses should be added to speed up travel on land. Carriages should be available to massively speed up travel and allow some measure of realistic "fast travel" to save time during gameplay.
Stage IV: Fighting should be possible from horseback and it should be possible to jump and climb on running carriages and have carriage chases through towns and jungles.

c. Fights
Stage I: No fights, because no characters
Stage II: Possibility for fencing between characters, similar to in PotC and CoAS but more smoothly of course
Stage III: Possibility to use the environment as weapon
Stage IV: Possibility to climb anywhere into the environment and have duels go up into the rigging of ships, sneak into mansions, etc.

Have any other quick story suggestions? Post them and have them added to the list of suggestions!

a. Random Story Events
Stage I: There IS no story
Stage II: Some random story events can be added as proof of concept
Stage III: There should be enough random story events to allow you to play them for a while
Stage IV: There should be many varied random story events to keep you entertained, including:
1 - Treasure maps, buried treasure and other parties who want to find it, including treasures hidden in jungle temple ruins, etc.
2 - Increasingly unhappy crews due to a nasty first mate, resulting in mutiny, marooning, escape and trying to find your ship again
3 - Governors' daughters kidnapped by pirates who you can go and rescue
4 - Navy service with a lot of different missions available, such as ones involving fire ships, gunboats, spying, politics, etc.

b. Scripted Sidequests and Full Storylines
Stage I: There IS no story
Stage II: A small story could be scripted as proof of concept
Stage III: Various sidequests can be added to expand the game experience
Stage IV: Anyone should be able to script long storylines featuring whatever they want. Ideally, it should be possible to have these available as additional downloads as well.

c. Nations
Stage I: No nations
Stage II: One or two nations set up on the one island
Stage III: At least all the main players included (England, France, Spain, Holland)
Stage IV: Additional countries to be added as required, including the US Colonies, Portugal, Denmark and whatever is necessary for a larger world with more continents.

d. Politics
Stage I: No politics
Stage II: Possible to talk to the governor of the island
Stage III: Possible to join different nations' navy and/or buying a Letter of Marque from the governors
Stage IV: Nation relations changing in a believable and, as much as possible, historically accurate way. The player would be able to influence this by their position and actions

e. Economy
Stage I: There IS no economy
Stage II: You can buy/sell goods from the one store on the island
Stage III: Different islands make different goods and the player is free to trade in them or smuggle them
Stage IV: All ships at sea have a purpose, with merchant ships following trade routes and it having an effect on a nation's economy if these trade routes are interfered with.

a. Music
Stage I: A Main Theme to be written and recorded, either synthesised otherwise.
Stage II: Music for sailing at sea, sea battles, land exploration and land fights to be added.
Stage III: All game instances to have some measure of appropriate music.
Stage IV: Different types of music selections to be available, such as:
1 - Period
2 - Classical
3 - Old-fashioned orchestral film (Korngold, Rózsa, Cutthroat Island, etc.)
4 - Modern (partly) synthesised film (Hans Zimmer, Pirates of the Caribbean)

b. Sound Effects
Stage I: Some wind and wave effects, ship sounds and cannon/explosion battle sounds required
Stage II: Land sounds required, but including crowd sounds but not necessarily a full set of voice clips yet
Stage III: Full set of voice clips and realistic sound effects to be added
Stage IV: To be experimented with automatic voices that read written dialog texts

Note: The game is NOT intended to ever become a MMORPG as this is too difficult to accomplish.

Stage I: Two players to be able to take control of the two ships and battle each other
Stage II: Potential to add AI ships into the mix, allowing co-op gameplay and fleet vs. fleet actions at sea as well
Stage III: Allowing players to fight against ships and forts in player vs. player and co-op missions
Stage IV: Allowing varied player vs. player and co-op missions, including fort assaults and land fights/duels

So what are you waiting for? Head over to our forums and give us what you've got!

Well, I'm sure there's still a lot left to be thought about, discussed and decided upon. But it should at least show people what we've got in mind. I'll be very much looking forward to your comments on it all, once you managed to get round to reading it.

Just finished reading and got to say it's plenty of info for so early in design and sounds pretty ambitious and exciting for those of us with an interest in this sort of game!

I have only one point of confusion. Possibly because I've never played either of the games you've modded. Do you aim to combine both individual character control/movement with big floating sailing as the entire ship by the time you are nearing basic feature completeness?

You will be able to walk around your ship while it is sailing, giving orders as you go. This applies when sailing alone as well as in multiple ship battles. The old games (POTC and COAS) have this feature and so will this one.

Is it just me, or does this game sound more and more like a dream come true? What an inspiration, glad to know someone is finally developing a game based on the age of sail, and with the talk of near infinite customization, really just sounds great:D

"Do you aim to combine both individual character control/movement with big floating sailing as the entire ship by the time you are nearing basic feature completeness?"
We'll definitely want to allow the player to control both his own character and the ship itself. In the games we have modded, basically you have control of your character on land and in boardings and of the ship while at sea. We want to add the ability to control your character at sea as well and allow you to let the control of the ship up to an officer on deck if you so wish.

"Do you plan to make this a retail game?"
Definitely not. It'll always have to be free.

"Is it just me, or does this game sound more and more like a dream come true?"
It definitely should be! It is OUR dream that we're trying to make come true. And if we can, we'd like to make everybody else's dreams come true with it too.

I didn't make the decision, but UDK is what we've decided on for now. It isn't 100% set in stone though. If you've got some good suggestions to try something else, please let us know and we can consider it.

I'd like to think it IS set in stone at this stage, because we can't keep changing our minds on the engine. We chose it for its flexibility and features such as Kismet for visual scripting. Initially, most of the work will be behind-the-scenes coding, but I'm confident the UDK will allow fairly intuitive modding of the game for storylines and such, without ever having to touch any code files.

We definitely don't want it slow and boring, that's for sure. If you played the other games we have been modding, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Age of Pirates series, those feature fighting we are NOT impressed with as it is definitely not fluid.

We've been throwing around a lot of examples from other games we do like, ranging from Mount & Blade to the Star Wars: Jedi Knight series.

1) How big will the world be and the islands individually? And will traveling around both the world and on the islands be done without loading screens and such? And are we talking about more than one town on each island?

2) Will the ship have realistic physics? Will it feel like you have a beast to master? From which view will you be able to control it? Also, if you wanna turn will the crew respond to your command visualy? I mean, will you be able to see them trim the sails for example? I'm a sailor myself and i know that it's no easy job to master a ship with sails especially during bad weather.

3) How much freedom will the player have? Can he for example, invade and conquer a city if he belongs to a rival's nations army? Or is that only possible inside a storyline?

4) The parts of the ship; I get it about the captain's cabin, but will the other parts be of any use to the player?

1) The size of the world is still a point of debate, mostly because of performance concerns. We are trying to keep everything as big as possible. We are trying to make the entire gameplay experience without a single loading screen. The amount of towns on an island will depend on the island. There will however be multiple locations to explore like caves, plantations, villages...

2) I will try make the physics as realistic as possible. You will have dynamic waves that have an effect on the ships motion. The speed of the ship will also be calculated for each individual sail. So the option to control each sail individually will also be included. You can view your ship from character-view on the deck or from a tactical view like POTC.

3) You will be able to capture a city (even a friendly one), but expect a realistic difficulty. It will also be possible for AI to capture towns so be prepared to defend cities as well.

4) Mainly during boardings or quests.

5) There should be a button for toggling between 3rd and 1st person view.

how much is it gonna take to finish? i know this is kinda a stupid ideea, but say it like this : we want it to be done and able for everyone to play in about 3-5 years... It's my dream also , i already made up my future to become a c++ programer ( well that's my blan b for the future :D) to be able to work at a game exactly like this, AND i think it would be awesome if u make it a type of game that can have lot of multyplayer itteraction like a MMORPG. I look forward in playing a game that has Voyage Century Online map , POTCO avatar combat weapons ( just weapons exept the voodo weapons things ) haves the avatar combat kinda like POTBS but more realistic ( As u intend to do acctually ) haves the Ships like POTBS , but u should be able to walk on the ship and in EVERY part of it , and also i belive THIS IS A GOOD IDEEA : Like in Voyage century online , to be able to gather ur materials mannually or put workers to do it from forests , mines ,build a blacksmith , make a bussniss things, trade by sailing with ur ship , things like that .Horse caravans FTW ! :D ... Try combine the best from VCO POTCO POTC POTBS like i said till now and the avatar combat make it ur style , if u make it so realistical that gives u a feeling as assasin's creed, u'll sooooo get rich !! :D PS : i am 16 but i have a unusuall capability of learning very fast something if i like it , if u give me a manual about c++ and and a book about the rest , i would like to help although i am quite , uhhh.... i don't know anything about how to create a game lol

I am really looking forward to every stage of this game. Is it possible for someone to help in making this game, doesn't matter which stage, whilst having no game making experience at all? (I'm Dutch so excuse me for writing mistakes.) Maybe I could help in Dutch specific parts like, but not limited to, voice-acting and building designs.

Absolutely! We're happy to accept people who wish to help, even if they have little to no experience, as long as they're willing to learn (in some cases by self-teaching). Please have a look at the list of development roles we're currently offering, to see where you might fit in: Piratesahoy.net

The game will be in English to start with, but it's possible that we will release patches for translations such as Spanish. That wouldn't happen until very late development (a few years away), and we would need a LOT of help from native Spanish speakers, but we may still consider it. :)

Please, someone hit me... or, AM I DREAMING??!! So they still exist, people like you guys, that make dreams a reality. You are awesome! Please never let this project die, EVER! If you pull this off correctly, you are most likely going to experience the biggest success in gaming history.

Thanks for your support! It's been a dream floating around our forums for some time now, so we're glad to have taken the opportunity to make it a reality. I doubt the fanbase for this kind of game amounts to much, but for those who are as excited as we are, we hope to make something truly spectacular. ;)

Is there any chance that there will be a Mac version, native or ported? I'm not that familiar with the back-end development aspect of things, so I don't know whether it's a huge undertaking to include that process. Just a thought.

Thanks for your support!
The idea of delegating tasks will probably be a central part of naval gameplay. We really want to emphasise the player's role as a captain in charge of a crew, rather than a one-man army doing everything himself. We think this should improve immersion and hopefully allow the player to see their crew as individuals, instead of numbers.

Whoa! Have you... have you entered my dreams? Because this is the kind of game I've always literally dreamt of (and I can't stress the "literally" part enough). Especially the part about interacting with the crew and giving actual orders to actual officers from a 1st/3rd person perspective and not just steering the ship with WASD.

Best of lucks, you're awseome. In the meantime, gonna try New Horizons as soon as I find my old PotC disc.

Awesome. Just pure awesome. Well planned out. An uninhibited, realistic age of sail game is something I strongly desire. There are a lot of arcadey games that grow boring easily and only a few decent realistic good ones.

Please let me know if you need any graphical help. I'm a professional graphic designer and would love to contribute if needed! Wish I knew code... beyond HTML and whatnot...

Have you looked at Silent Hunter 3 for inspiration?
That game has a dynamic campaign with really intuitive ship travelling.
I would love to be able to look at my ship wherever I am on the ocean and same time chose fast travel and speed the time up when using a map.
I am thinking that if the Silent Hunter team made a Pirate game, that would be the ultimate game for me.

One cool area to include would be the coast of Maine and Atlantic Canada. There was lots of pirate activity there in the early 1700s, and those waters were full of navy ships, merchants, and privateers during the Seven Years War, American Revolution, and War of 1812. Plus, almost all of the settlements were small and simple.